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A new timepiece from Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

ByRoberta Naas on May 06, 2015

If the reigning orthodoxy is for stealth glamour, Audemars Piguet didn’t get the memo. The Swiss luxury-watch brand has unveiled the audacious Diamond Punk watch. Crafted in 18-karat white gold, the high-jewelry timepiece is bathed in thousands of diamonds and features a watch dial masterfully hidden behind a sliding cover that is also ensconced in diamonds.

Even the dial itself is set with 300 diamonds. Inspired by the geometric studs of the punk era, the cuff weighs in at more than 22 carats and consists of pyramid-like three-dimensional prisms over the entire bracelet and dial cover. These 56 pyramids are then magnificently bedecked with 5,326 brilliant diamonds. Each pyramid also features one side that forgoes the diamonds in favor of black onyx insets.

It took Audemars Piguet’s gem setters more than 1,440 hours—or seven months—to set the diamonds using an unconventional “snow setting” technique, which makes differently sized diamonds seem as though they are randomly placed, when, in fact, each has been affixed to its place to maximize the light and glitter like snow in the sun. For more information, go to audemarspiguet.com.